Titanic Facts

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. See the fact file below for more information and facts about the Titanic.

The White Star Line was the company that built the Titanic, and was owned by J.P. Morgan, an American tycoon. It cost $7.5 million to build the Titanic. It was the most luxurious ocean liner of its time. The price of a first class ticket cost each passenger $4,700 which was a HUGE amount of money for the time. It would be about $57,000 today.

As the Titanic was leaving the port, the suction it caused actually snapped the ropes of a nearby docked ship, the S.S. New York. Tugboats had to race to the scene to prevent the New York from colliding with the Titanic. Some people felt this was a bad omen.

There were six iceberg warnings received by Titanic on the day of the collision. They were all ignored by the wireless operator. Unfortunately, that operator was preoccupied with transmitting passenger messages. The night the collision occurred was moonless and the water was still. Both of these facts made it very difficult to see into the dark night and black ocean. The iceberg that the Titanic struck was not very big. It did not even come up as high as the bridge of the ship.

The Titanic was traveling 22.5 knots. This was just .5 knot from her maximum speed capability. The ship was clearly traveling too fast for conditions. The collision occurred at 11:40 P.M. on Sunday, April 14, 1912.

The captain ordered the engines reversed which sealed the Titanic’s fate. A ship as large as the Titanic turned more quickly the greater her forward motion. Had the Titanic proceeded ahead and turned, it is most likely that she would have avoided hitting the iceberg all together. The gash that the iceberg cut into the hull of the Titanic was between 220 to 245 feet long. The total length of the ship was approximately 882 feet. Recent evidence shows that an opening the size of a refrigerator is what allowed water to enter the ship. Also, the “watertight” compartments of the Titanic’s hull were not actually watertight. They were open at the tops, which made the disaster worse. The ship could have stayed afloat if only four compartments flooded, but five actually flooded.

A total of 1,503 people died, including passengers and crew. Only 705 people survived. Only 1 child from first class died, while 49 children from steerage died. Many dogs were also aboard the Titanic. Two survived. Charles Joughin was the only person to survive the ice cold Atlantic water.

Law required a ship the size of the Titanic to have 962 lifeboat seats. The Titanic had 1,178 seats, but 2,208 lifeboat seats were needed to get everyone off the ship. Many of the lifeboats left the ship only half full. There were 472 lifeboat seats not used. Not many people went down with the ship. Most of the people went into the Atlantic Ocean with life jackets on. However, the water temperature was only 31 degrees, so most people froze to death in the water.

The Carpathian was the ship that responded to the Titanic’s distress call, but she was 58 miles and 4 hours away.

Orders from the Captain were that, women and children were to board the lifeboats first. One man, Daniel Buckley, disguised himself as a woman to get aboard a lifeboat. The band played music up to the last few minutes before the ship went under. None of the band members survived.

The Titanic lies 12,600 feet at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The two pieces of the Titanic lay 1,970 feet apart from one another on the ocean floor. The Titanic was rediscovered on July 14th, 1986, seventy-four years after it sank. Since the death of Millvina Dean, May 31, 2009, there are no longer any living survivors of the Titanic tragedy. Millvina Dean was just nine weeks old at the time of theTitanic’s sinking.

Titanic Facts and Statistics

On April 10, 1912 the R.M.S. Titanic set out from Southampton, England on her maiden voyage across the North Atlantic. The Titanic was the shining jewel of the White Star Line, and she was thought to be unsinkable.